𝐏𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐑 - 𝐌𝐚𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐥

one | mission

-ONE-

Six years later

A young brunette stood with her jacket zipped up, and her hood over her head, walking down the bustling street. She noted the three policemen near her place of residence, and immediately ducked into a nearby alley. She looked at an old homeless man seated next to the dumpster, and handed over a wad of money to him. "There." She said, her voice heavily accented. "I paid up. Now give me my payment, or else suffer at the hands of Syn." 

The old man handed her a bag and said, "You, Ameera Khouri, are a spitfire if I ever saw one." 

"It's sad that you still think that's my name, Samuel Kensington." She chuckled, looking at the contents of the bag. Her eyes glimmered like liquid gold under the darkness of her hood, as her gilded eyes locked with Samuel's grey ones. 

"Well, what is your name?" He asked with a hoarse chuckle, his eyes glittering strangely. 

She kneeled in front of him, coming to eye level, as she whispered, "That's for me to know, and you to find out." She tossed a blanket around him, and walked off.

As she walked up the metal steps of the old apartment building where she lived, Sana pulled her hood off, releasing her long, brown hair from it. Once she entered the small store room where she lived, she put the bag down and emptied its contents onto the old mattress in the corner, which she called her bed. She'd pulled off her jacket, when something startled her. 

"Nice house." Chuckled a voice from the corner. In her surprise, Sana flung a dagger at the intruder, and put up her fists, her cuts showing through the fingerless gloves she was wearing, which had holes on the knuckles. The intruder had apparently caught her knife, because he sent it back towards her, making her use her shadow magic to catch it. 

"Waller asked me to personally bring you over." He said, "Sana."

"Did my mother send you?" She asked, her face paling more than it could ever. 

"No." He replied simply.

"Then how do you know my name?" She raised an eyebrow, fists still up on guard. 

"I'm part of the Justice Society," said the man. "The name's Carter. Carter Hall. It's my business knowing about vigilantes and shapeshifters who go around calling themselves Syn, changing their birth name locally, so forth." 

"You know, if Mrs. Bose sent you, just tell the truth. Don't bullshit me with this 'Justice Society' thing." Sana put down her hands. "And don't call me by my real name. The reason I stopped using it is so that I wouldn't be found. Only one person knows my real name, and that's confidential." 

When Carter approached her, she sent a swift right hook to his jaw, making his head snap left. Massaging the place where she hit, he said, "I know you're not a trusting person, Sa--" He corrected himself when she glared at him, "I mean, Ameera. But please, you're one powerful being. We need you." 

"I'm sorry, 'we'?" She scoffed in disbelief, "I haven't worked with a team in six years. It's always gonna be 'me'. Never 'we'. By the way, want coffee?"

"What's the chance to ten that it's poisoned?" Asked Carter. 

"Mm...ten out of ten. Nice work, Sherlock." She chuckled, taking her knife and using her t-shirt to wipe it off. 

He smirked, "Don't change the subject here, kid." 

"I'm nineteen years old. I'm not a kid." She rolled her eyes. "How old are you, forty? Forty-five?" 

"That's none of your business. I'm gonna be very harsh here now," Carter admitted, "You have no family, no job, no home, and you misuse your power to a criminal level. You have one friend, and thus have no way to put yourself to use. Because no one wants an enhanced, homeless kid with not a penny in their name working in their communities. What I'm offering can give you everything. A home, a job, and a family. Take it or take it. There's no second option."